Independent participatory media for Iran

Iran's minister of economic and financial affairs says the elimination of sanctions against the Islamic Republic is a long-term consideration that the government should not focus on to resolve its current problems.

Ali Tayyebnia said on Sunday Oct. 6; "To think that sanctions will be lifted in the near future and all problems will be solved is a false dream. Even if there is progress in the negotiations and oil revenues begin pouring into the country, we will still be facing the problems of dependence on these revenues."

The minister of economic and financial affairs stressed that sanctions are not the cause of the country’s economic problems but merely an aggravating factor of “inappropriate economic policies and ineffective economic models.”

The Mehr News Agency reports that in reference to the sanctions targeting Iran's banking system, the minister said: "It is a strategic mistake to concentrate all our energy on reducing sanctions and lose focus from the creating factors of our economic problems.”

In recent years, EU and the United States have imposed widespread sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sector. Meanwhile the country is in the talons of rapidly rising inflation and a highly unstable national currency.

The sanctions have severely restricted the Iranian Central Bank's ability to move Iran's oil revenues through international transactions.